Sashimi Style: Handmade Cutlery

We can think of no other culture, where the metalurgical arts play such a dominant role than in Japan. Ruminating on the history and the importance of the sword in Samuri lore, it’s no wonder that the ancient art of sword fabrication became interwoven with that of the chef knife. The oldest known Japanese chef knife is over 1200 years old but real craftsmanship for chef knives began to develop in the mid 19th Century and continued after World War Two, when General MacArther banned the production of swords. With many craftsman out of work, the Japanese soon turned their energy to making some of the best and most highly regarded cutlery known to man. The signature of any Japanese Chef Knife is its sharpness. To achieve this, the knives are razor sharp on one side and slightly concave on the reverse side. This makes delicate knife work easy and sharpening a breeze. Once you try a handmade, traditionally crafted Japanese chef knife, you’ll never go back. Our go-to source is Korin.

Featured Cookbook: Ad Hoc at Home

While we have a great love and respect for the culinary professional - the chef who works long hours behind the stove, waking early to get the best zucchinis at the farmers market, slaving for years at the pass, a demanding, passionate business person - we have no desire to be that guy or gal. It’s hard work plain and simple. It's punishing and grueling. After years behind the stove crafting perfection at The French Laundry and creating some of the most memorable bistro fare in the country at Bouchon, Thomas Keller has officially mellowed with his restaurant, Ad Hoc, and now cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. What we like most about Ad Hoc at Home is that it is geared toward the Home Chef. That’s us and we have to say, for all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the maestro of American cookery, this book will inspire you to dust off your own comfort food chops and believe once again in your abilities to wow your friends and family in the kitchen. We highly recommend starting with the buttermilk fried chicken.

Pathfinder Chef Challenge Spotlights Pt. 3

With just under a month to go, the incredible chefs just keep rolling in. Here's a quick look at some of the new entrants into the Chef Challenge, and few older videos that aren't to be missed. Just think, if you're the lucky winner who ends up on the Inca Trail, one of these fine chefs will be preparing you amazing meals all the way to Machu Picchu!

Our most recent video features Chef Dean Smith showing off some delicious looking pad thai: an impressive dish to prepare while camping at night in the great outdoors at Deer Camp, in Spring City, Utah.

Next up is Scott Beale; chef, inventor, and owner of Saratoga Springs' Grey Gelding Bistro. In this video, Chef Scott uses his patented flexible baking mold to prepare a lovely baked shrimp cake with a Peruvian red chile sauce. Throw in a glass of Discoveries Chardonnay, and it sounds to us like a meal fit for the trail!

In addition to having logged kitchen time in Tuscany and Napa, Will Bradof is a veteran of many of Jackson Hole, Wyoming's finest establishments, including Trio, the local bistro which he currently co-owns with Chef Paul Wireman, a man who knows a thing or two about tubers. Also hailing from Jackson Hole is Chef Joel Tate of Rendezvous Bistro, who'd love nothing more than to discover and be discovered.

Remember, it's not to late to get into the action. Chef Dean entered just five days ago and is already in the top ten videos and looking at a trip to Santa Barbara to participate in the final Chef showdown! So if you or anyone you know is a chef, or just loves to cook, why not start filming! If you've got 60 seconds and a built in camera on your phone, you can record a video that might get you all to way to Machu Picchu!

Pathfinder Chef Challenge Spotlights Pt. 2

With all the great videos coming in from chefs all across the country hoping for a chance to cook for our lucky Pathfinder along the Inca Trail, we thought we'd take a moment to give you a quick rundown of the competition.

Scott Sachs is a San Francisco-based chef and caterer who, though he may have trouble passing for Harry Potter, and struggles a bit with certain Peruvian-lake pronunciations, has no such difficulties when it comes to turning an ordinary lump of dough into an incredible looking pizza. And as great as it looks in the video, just imagine how that would taste after a long day of hiking! Also, be sure to check out the Fresh Foods column Scott writes for the SF Examiner.

Chef Aimee is a recent culinary school graduate ready to put her newfound knowledge to good use out on the trail. Check out her incendiary video to see her magically transform some potatoes, chicken, and peppers into a traditional Peruvian Causa Rellena!

William Pence may not be from Peru, but his boss sure is. And after hearing all about the many wonders of Peruvian cuisine from Blanca Fauble, owner of Carvers Steak and Chops in Dayton, Ohio, Executive Chef Pence did what any adventurous chef would have done; he tried it out for himself, incorporating Peruvian flourishes into his cooking. Perhaps, then, trying out some of these new flavors while hiking the Inca Trail is just the next step in the process...

Michael Kelly is a chef at Seattle's La Dolce Vita, where they like to add a bit of Northwestern flair to their traditional Italian menu by using plenty of fresh, local ingredients. If he's picked as our Guest Chef, he'll have plenty of amazing local ingredients to cook with, but they sure won't be of the Seattle variety.

Pathfinder Chef Challenge Spotlights Pt. 1

With all the great videos coming in from chefs all across the country hoping for a chance to cook for our lucky Pathfinder along the Inca Trail, we thought we'd take a moment to give you a quick rundown of the competition.

Chef John Taus is the executive chef at Philadelphia's Snackbar restaurant, where the portions are small (just don't call them tapas, this is all-American), but irresistibly snackable. In the rustic/gourmet spirit of our trip, John keeps it down-home but high-class with menu items like brown butter popcorn, fried pig trotters with jalapeno cheese grits, and Peanut Butter Semifreddo with grape compote. You can expect to have plenty of energy on the trail if he's our winner, as Chef Taus plans on preparing some jerkies and smoked meats to snack on as we hike!

Join Chef Michael Fahey, a 30 year culinary veteran, along the Appalachian Trailup on the Blue Ridge Mountains as he whips up a very special combination of rice, shrimp, spices, snails, and the secret ingredient: beautiful mountain air! There'll certainly be plenty of that of that along the Inca Trail. No stranger to the great outdoors, Chef Fahey is also the author of Cooking American Style, Up on Cedar Mountain, "a collection of recipes and poetry from an American chef, inspired by living in an American rain forest in the southern highlands of the Appalachian Mountains."

Fish doesn't get much fresher than the Black Drum Chef Jay Norris pulls in off the side of his kayak in  in our most action-packed video yet.  Once he's back ashore in Ponte Vedre, Florida (though still outside, of course), you can watch as Jay assemble an absolutely gorgeous dish with his catch, paired with Firestone's 2007 Riesling.

Be sure to check out all the great chefs to see who might be cooking for you if you're our lucky winner, and stay tuned for more chef spotlights!

Pathfinder Chef Challenge Spotlight: Tim Kirker

Though the French were the fourth largest group of immigrants to Peru (thanks wikipedia!), and both French and Peruvian cuisine are among the world's best, I’m not sure if French-Peruvian cuisine has really taken hold internationally. But depending on how thing shape up for Tim Kirker, he could end up as the ambassador of a new culinary movement. The head chef of Bistro Zinc on State Street in Chicago’s beautiful Near North Side, Kirker is a master of traditional French cuisine the likes of croque monsieur, escargot, profiteroles, and assiette de charcuterie. But, no stranger to the outdoors, he's also "done quite a bit of hiking and biking cooking in the outback," not to mention preparing straight-from-the-river fish over an open campfire in Alaska. With those kind of Top Chef meets Man vs Wild credentials, can the Brandade Stuffed Rocoto Pepper, or Ceviche Confit be far off? Check out all the great chef videos at our YouTube page.

If you’d like a chance to perfect your own Peruvian hybrid cuisine, make a 60-second of yourself showing why you should be our guest chef, and go here to upload it and learn more about the contest! And if you're not a chef, you can enter to be the lucky Pathfinder for which our winning chef will be whipping up those exquisite meals! Enter here.

Culinary Skills via Couch

We're obsessed with food, cooking, travel and well, even watching people cook. A guilty pleasure is tuning in to follow the poor aspiring chefs getting thrashed by Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen every week. But at the end of the day, would we have the skills to perform under the wicked-smart-high-stress instruction of Chef Ramsay. Hmmm. Maybe time to leap into the depths of a virtual Hell's Kitchen. You can always turn it off. The game is complete with Ramsay's tirades and high-intensity coaching, with a chance to unlock real recipes from the restaurant to test at home (the real perk). Who knows, you may even learn something. If throwing yourself into a virtual pressure-cooker doesn't sound appealing (yet), try your hand at Order Up from Wii: a game of virtual restaurant kitchens, cuisine education, and culinary prep. As with anything Wii cooks up, this rendezvous into the culinary world is engaging and humorous, testing players on everything from preparation to presentation, in burger joints to gourmet restaurants. Rising stars will make their way through the culinary ranks, with chances to be chef/owner and create recipes...all while being tested by food critics, demanding customers and the high stress kitchen environment. An excuse to sit on the couch and learn something? Take it while you can!

We Challenge You

There's a flipside to our Firestone Discoveries contest, one that has been a little hush-hush since contest launch. One exciting announcement at a time, whew. In addition to searching for a Firestone Discoveries Pathfinder to join our amazing trip to Peru and the Inca Trail, we have a Guest Chef Challenge. We're searching for an exciting, outgoing, creative, and adaptive chef who will join us, work alongside our Peruvian cooks and serve as the official Guest Chef on the four-day Inca Trail trek. The winner will be hired as a Guest Chef Consultant and will receive an all-expense paid trip to Peru -- to experience the incredible Inca Trail -- in return for your time and effort. This will not be just any chef - cooking on the Inca Trail trek will be an amazing challenge, guaranteed to stretch your horizons and your idea of what a kitchen should look like. Know someone who would fit the bill? Or maybe you're ready to take on the Chef Challenge? Let the games begin! Our official Firestone Discoveries YouTube Channel is about to be brimming with Guest Chef applicant videos - who will be the first? Get tips on how to create your Chef Challenge applicant video from our team.

Also, find an amazing promo video recently uploaded to the site (see below) - if it doesn't get you geared for adventure, we don't know what will! The video is also very easy to share - remember, the more friends to get to apply to become our Firestone Discoveries Pathfinder, the better your chances for winning the assignment (i.e. a trip to Peru!). Whether you are submitting Discoveries Pathfinder application or the Guest Chef Challenge video, we look forward to hearing from you.